This invention relates to containers, and in particular to a tabletop receptacle for holding both a full mini box of disposable tissues and an empty box in a side-by-side arrangement where the receptacle exterior side mounts for allowing card shaped objects such as 4xc3x976 inch photographs and postcards to be displayed and stored therein.
Boxes of disposable tissues have been become more popular in recent times. Often the boxes have included colorful design patterns on the outside of the boxes. However, many users do not like the colors and/or design patterns.
Additionally, the user still must find a place to throw out the used tissues that come from the tissues boxes.
Various types of tissue box storage containers have been proposed over the years. See for example, U.S. Pat. Des. No. 371,708 to Haley et al.; Des. 381,227 to Cockrum; Des. 381,228 to Cockrum and Des. 403,189 to Isaacson. However, each of these patents is for ornamental designs for tissue box holders. Thus, the user is restricted to the ornamental design of the outer box when it is used to cover the tissue box.
Other devices have been proposed for holding tissues such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,439,104 to Wolska-Klis and U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,152 to Ritchie et al., but also fail to overcome the deficiencies described above.
The first objective of the invention is to provide a receptacle for storing a full disposable tissue box and an empty disposable tissue box side-by-side to one another.
The second objective of the invention is to provide a receptacle for storing tissue boxes that can hold cards such as photographs and postcards on outside sidewalls of the receptacle.
The third objective of the invention is to provide a receptacle having a slot for storing a tissue box and a slot for holding trash.
A receptacle-holder according to the invention includes a receptacle having an open top, closed sides and a bottom, and an inside wall separating the receptacle into a first compartment and a second compartment. Each of the compartments can include dimensions of approximately 6 inches by approximately six inches for allowing disposable mini tissue boxes to be inserted into each compartment. In use a full disposable box of tissues is located in one compartment, while an empty disposable box is located in the adjacent compartment. After the box of tissues is depleted, the user can remove the tissue box that was used as a trash bin and replace the same with a full disposable box of tissues. The invention allows the user to alternate using up disposable tissue boxes and recycling each tissue box into a trash bin and alternating each compartment to be a tissue box holder and a trash bin holder. The invention eliminates the need for separate liners that are normally used with trash bins.
On the outside walls of the receptacle are holders for supporting card shaped objects such as postcards, photographs, and the like. The holders can be raised edges that allow a flexible frame shape to be on the outside and the photograph on the inside. The holders can also include preformed frame shapes with openings for displaying the underlying photograph. Additionally, the invention can use double walls, the outer side wall having a transparent portion, and a slot between the outer wall and the inner wall for allowing the card shaped objects to be inserted therein. The outer wall can also have a higher height than the inner wall thus allowing the user to physically grab onto a top edge of the card shaped object. Displaying the card shaped objects allows for the user to customize the appearance of the receptacle, and eliminate others from seeing any designs that already exist on the disposable tissue boxes.
Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a presently preferred embodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanying drawings.